I boasted recently that I am a pro at handling chopsticks *ahem!* and that I can manipulate peanuts and fishballs quite easily. I didn’t quite say that I was holding it the right way 
However, reader Bugs asked to see how I hold my chopsticks, so here it is.
Such a random little post isn’t it? 
This is how I hold my chopsticks. The lower piece does not move and its the top piece that does all the work. I believe this is what’s known as “the right way to hold a chopstick”.
Am I doing it right? I’d like to think so
Paris B
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Yes, good girl! That’s the correct way
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:01 pm
Yay! Hard work paid off hehe…
Twitter: huixin
April 19, 2012 at 4:12 pm
i can’t manipulate the chopsticks quite well, esp this plastic kind. but, i can hold the korean chopsticks very steadily
we have been using korean chopsticks at home for quite some years hence i guess i am used to it already
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Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Do you mean the metal round chopsticks or the flat Korean chopsticks? I handle them all the same way but the flat metal ones at Korean restaurants can be a bit of a challenge
I just can’t hold chopsticks that way. My mom tried to teach it to me but it just doesn’t feel natural. I hold the chopsticks crossed and both of them move when I pick up food. Since everyone I know holds their chopsticks like you Paris, I get some confused stares.
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:05 pm
I find chopsticks very elegant so I tried hard to make sure I did it right. I started out the crossed way too and it wasn’t easy but you get used to it and it comes naturally after a while. Never too late!
Twitter: samstillreading
April 19, 2012 at 4:24 pm
I’m not the best at chopsticks, but I think I’m pretty good for an Aussie. I can pick up small stuff reasonably well most of the time.
Is it incorrect to use chopsticks left handed? I was told it was offensive by an English woman while I was in Japan. There’s no way I can handle chopsticks right handed!
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Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:11 pm
I know some traditionalists think that chopsticks shouldn’t be used in the left hand. I personally think its worth doing whatever one can to get food into the mouth lol! Oh and not to poke or clash with the person sitting on your left
Twitter: niaizu
April 19, 2012 at 4:27 pm
i hold em like that too!
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:11 pm
Yay! Looks like we’re on the right track
Twitter: beetrice
April 19, 2012 at 4:32 pm
I used to hold my chopsticks crossed and get smacked by my gran cos she said it brought bad luck (or something to that effect – can’t remember anymore!), then managed to switch over to the way you hold it sometime during my teen years.
I have a tiny bit of a problem when it comes to the slim metal chopsticks you typically see at Korean restaurants (Xin, I’m jealous!) but otherwise, bring on the peanut challenge!
*brandishes bamboo and plastic chopsticks*
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Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:12 pm
The flat metal chopsticks are a bother, I find. Hurts my hands when used for too long. But yeah! Chopstick ninjas!
Good girl! That’s absolutely the right way. And that’s how I hold my chopsticks too.
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Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:13 pm
Yay for doing it right
I believe that *is* the right way to hold a pair of chopsticks. They’re never supposed to be crossed but of course, I break the rules ;P
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:15 pm
Haha it’s one thing knowing the theory and another to put it in practice right? Hehe
I hold my chopsticks like how I hold my pen.. #embarassing
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Hmm I can’t quite imagine that. One stick is held like a pencil too, in my case. The other one is the one that moves to pick things up
Thnx PB for the photo… wow, so fast !! …and YEAH ! i’m proud of myself.
Even though the cross chopsticks way of holding is undoubtedly “wrong”, I’ve seen many with 2 straight chopsticks but the fingers or the hand is so “cross” that I’m curious how they “invent” that way of holding…. hahaaha
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:28 pm
You’re welcome, Bugs
I’ve seen lots of different variations of how people hold their chopsticks too!
Twitter: midnight_plue
April 19, 2012 at 6:18 pm
i can hold like that but the minute i use it, it goes all haywire! give up already
the only person at home who can do it right is my dad.
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Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Lol practice makes perfect m’dear!
I have problems with plastic chopsticks… somehow or rather they just couldn’t ‘coorporate’ with me!!!
Not a good thing because the plastics ones are the one we are offered outside!! somewhat embarrassing when eating especially with elder people.
i am good with wooden and stainless steel ones though…
weird.
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Maybe it’s the thickness and the heft. I find chopsticks that are a little heavier easier to handle than very light ones
I’ve heard it somewhere that you hold the top part like a chinese brush and the bottom like you would with a pencil.
I like Japanese chopstick shape the best. Tapered at the end and it feel just nice at the top.
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:32 pm
That’s interesting. You got me looking to see if I hold it like a Chinese brush hehe… I do know the bottom is held like a pencil, cos I remember my mom telling me so
a tapered end makes it much easier to pick small food pieces up, that’s for sure!
Twitter: HannyiNefMor
April 19, 2012 at 8:33 pm
When I was a kid, I could manipulate my chopsticks as any proper chopstick holder could, except that I crossed them together. However, after many, many tantrums and fights with me mom, she managed to get me to hold them correctly but I needed time to pick up my peanuts and fishballs.
Eating pasta with chopsticks as part of the training regime at home was ultimately traumatic.
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Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:33 pm
Lol! My parents never quite forced me to use it the right way, but I learnt it up because I thought it looked more elegant
You are right!!! Till now I can’t really hold it in a correct way..
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:34 pm
Practice?
Yes. you are holding it the correct way. I know it but I cannot change my wrong way due to habit.
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Hey, never too late to give it a shot!
yep! I remember that when I taught myself tot use chopsticks, I did it the wrong way. But I already knew what the right way is, and I forced myself very hard to change it to this way. haha.
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:36 pm
That’s what happened with me too
I started out the crossed way, but made an effort to learn the proper way. Was torturous initially but it gets easier as we go along
Twitter: sher88
April 20, 2012 at 9:31 am
Started holding my chopsticks like that after I got tegur-ed by my ice skating coach. I still remember what he said. ” Haiyo, why does yr chopsticks cross one? Look at your cousin (ang moh btw). She can hold better than you”
So all thanks to him, I started holding my chopsticks the right way
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Haha that was a cute anecdote and shaming us into doing it right, when someone of a different culture can do it better is a great incentive eh?
btw Ice skating! What fun! I was terrible at it 
I don’t hold chopsticks right…I cross them, and that’s wrong. But as long as I get the food, haha, who cares. :p
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Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:47 pm
I think that’s the common consensus
I was used to hold my chopsticks crossed, and after almost few months of practice, i am holding it correctly! yay!
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Yay! See, practice does make perfect!
Twitter: stacey_1805
April 20, 2012 at 11:51 am
I hold it crossed too, my parents didnt insist that I hold them the “correct” way and I don’t care as well, as long as I am fed.
I love japanese chopsticks. they are just so well made and sturdy, even their disposable chopsticks. The disposable chopsticks always split properly down the middle without any wooden splinters and it is tapered at the end.
i saw some japanese ladies who brought their own chopsticks too! perhaps we should too. after all, disposable chopsticks were bleached before, you get to eat with your favourite chopsticks AND save the earth at the same time.
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 10:12 pm
My parents didn’t insist too but I used to wonder why they and my late gran held it differently and it looked better and more elegant than how I did so I guess it was just a personal thing on my part
I actually own a pair of portable chopsticks in their case that I used to carry to work for my lunches. I don’t carry them around everywhere although it would make sense 
you can easily get a pair from Daiso where I got mine 
Twitter: rinnah
April 20, 2012 at 12:09 pm
I started out with chopsticks around the age of 7 (I think!) and your way is the only way I know how to hold chopsticks – never crossed ‘em before.
Last year during CNY, we were teaching one of my uncles (nearly 70 plus) that technically he shouldn’t cross his chopsticks and he was having a lot of fun exploring the ‘right’ way to hold chopsticks.
Don’t know if anyone else has the same problem as I do, but while my precision skill with chopsticks is okay (peanuts, small slivers of food, etc.) I sometimes have problems handling noodle strands. They just slither off my chopsticks!
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Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 10:15 pm
Never too late to learn the right way yes?
I don’t have a problem with noodles, unless they are very slippery. Some noodles are and those are hard to manage but am otherwise able to handle most types of noodles 
Hehe! I cheat and hold my chopsticks the wrong way (with the tops crossed). Whoops?
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 10:15 pm
Oops! Never too late to learn the right way?
That’s how I hold mine too! I used to cross my chopsticks when I was a kid. But I told myself I wanted to hold them like how my grandma did! I think I started to hold them correctly when I was 11 or 12. We don’t even use chopsticks at home *lol*
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 10:30 pm
I told myself the same thing! My parents and gran would use chopsticks while us kids used fork and spoon. Transitioning to using a bowl and chopsticks was a rite of passage for me, personally
Haha, I hold my chopsticks right at the top and sometimes they cross I think. Ooo do I see pan mee??? Absolutely delish looking
Twitter: paris_b
April 22, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Eagle eye! Yes it’s pan Mee at one of my fave stalls
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